Title: In Admiration - Part 18

Fandom: Lost

Characters: Jack Shephard, Boone Carlyle

Prompt: #84 High

Author's Notes: Written for the LiveJournal community slash100 (underscore between "slash" and "100" – for some reason FFN deletes it)

…………

Kate turned to find the source of the laughter that was carried to her on the breeze. She saw Sayid and Shannon, the latter curled up in a fit of giggles, sitting in the sand with Rousseau's maps spread out in front of them. Kate couldn't help but smile sadly, remembering a time that seemed so long ago when she was Shannon's age and was able to laugh more. So much had changed so quickly that even Kate was having a hard time keeping up.

She spotted Charlie and Hurley walking down the beach together in her direction. Charlie seemed to be doing better about Claire's kidnapping. Or, at least he was talking now. Kate instantly spotted the facade Charlie was putting up, but it put others around him at ease, so maybe it wasn't a bad thing. Kate didn't particularly care for their conversation until the name "Jack" came to her ears.

"...been acting like a bloody loon!" Charlie's voice was very clear now as they got closer, and Kate couldn't help but be curious about their conversation.

"That's why the caves aren't a good place to live," Kate said, loud enough for them to hear as they were still several yards away. "Small spaces have been known to drive people insane." She shielded a hand over her eyes, squinting slightly from the intense sunlight, as she watched Charlie and Hurley approach and sit besides her on the sand.

"It's getting weird down there, man." Hurley bent his knees in to sit cross-legged, looking out at the water. "Jack's either on a different creepy island than the rest of us or, well, the peroxide fumes are getting to him or...something."

Charlie tilted his head to the side a little, a gesture Kate noticed he often did when he was thinking. "You mean you think Jack is using drugs?"

"Whoa, dude, I never said that. But it's just...if he isn't high, why the hell is he in such a good mood?"

Kate scoffed. "I highly doubt Jack would take drugs."

"Have you seen the guy lately?" Charlie asked. "I was getting some water...I swear, he was whistling."

"Jack?" Kate raised her eyebrows at Charlie, then Hurley, who was nodding his head slowly. "Jack was whistling?"

Charlie held up his right hand. "On my honor."

Kate shook her head, standing and brushing the sand off the seat of her pants. "This I gotta see."

"If he's moved on to singing," Hurley called after as she started to walk away, "feel free to hit him on the head with something heavy. Repeatedly."

She was at the mouth of the path to the caves when Kate her Sawyer's lazy Southern drawl. "See how that worked out, Freckles?"

Sawyer was lying back in one of the seats that had been salvaged before the fuselage was burned. He was holding the well-worn copy of Watership Down open in front of him, but his eyes were on her. "How did what work?"

"Your waitin' so long to go after the doc. Sounds like he found him someone else."

"You heard all that?" Kate saw in the distance Locke and Boone arriving at the beach without, she noticed, any food.

Sawyer grinned slowly. "I hear lots of things." He closed the book, pulling himself up to dangle his legs over the chair, feet on the ground. "Point is, Freckles, you forgot you ain't the only girl on this island. A man's got needs."

Kate brushed a strand of hair from her eyes, looking at the path before looking back at Sawyer. "A woman's got needs too," she said, starting off in the direction of the caves, and smile at the amused chuckle coming from Sawyer. Kate couldn't help but think back to the kiss Sawyer had demanded of her a couple weeks before. Kissing Sawyer was like kissing fire - wild, controllable in small amounts, but too much and you'd surely get burned. She then wondered if kissing Jack would be like kissing water. Soothing, calm, and yet still dangerous.